“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believe that Jesus is the son of God?”
1 John 5:2-5
I can’t love people if I first don’t love God and obey Him. If I really walk how He hs called, I will genuinely love people because I will have God’s heart. That’s the only way I can love the Kenyans or anyone else I meet or know. God’s heart is love and grace—my heart is failing and sinful. I have nothing good in me that will make an impact for eternity—this is why I need God and His ways to fill and direct me. Not only does obedience to God help me to love others, but it really shows me how to love the Lord.
I also find it so freeing and exciting that the Lord is truly my Savior; I have a promise that I’ve overcome the world. That means I am free and not bound to hopelessness! I can truly live a life of liberty because Jesus paid it ALL to set me free so I could live. I don’t have to wait till eternity to live because I can live an overcoming life now as a testimony to what God has done. True victory in the world can be mine everyday if I just have
FAITH.
I just have to truly believe God. It is so simple; Lord please forgive me for all of the times I complicate it.
______ Church
(A branch of The Full Gospel Church of Kenya in Narok on the property of Osotua)
Tammy, speaking: “Where do I cast my eyes?”
· I must always be honest with the Lord
· Do I see a hopeless ending or an ending with hope?
· I must mourn for my country because of its wanting to be godless… BUT where there is darkness, God is at work.
· Scripture calls upon us to be the voice of this generation.
· While this world is growing dark, the Lord is raising up His church. I must be ready to FIGHT and set my eyes in the right place.
· I MUST get rid of the focus on myself… nothing is is a greater threat to the church than self—when my eyes are focused inward.
· Sometimes I focus on my own hurt, strength, pity, interest, business…
· Without Christ, it’s human nature to focus on self.
o Acts 7:52-60
o Stephen was talking to the church
o Sometimes we are like the church in this story and ignore the things of God and the truth.
o Stephen saw with HOLY EYES w/ a fixed vision on glory. He actually SAW Jesus.
o Jesus was honoring His son Stephen while He faced a great adversary.
o I don’t want Jesus seeing me focusing on myself.
o What Jesus saw as beautiful, the church found offensive because they were full of pride. They heard the truth but despised it.
**Often God uses the young to speak to the old… The young are pure and brave.
o I must see the glory of God ahead of me! ***There’s hope even for the wicked.
****JESUS WILL STAND FOR US WHEN WE STAND FOR TRUTH.
o There’s no room for hope when we hold on to our own sadness.
o My offense can turn to emotion and my emotions can keep me from Christ. God designed us to have emotions… but what do I do with them? I close heaves doors when I focus on myself and pain; I don’t reflect heaven’s glory.
o Pride causes me to focus only on myself.
o When I’m offended, do I ask Jesus to help me love someone who hurt me or do I feel sad for myself and think about my own needs than the needs of the person who offended me?
o Without God, I’m going to always carry hurt… w/ God, I am healed.
o I cannot serve God the way He calls me to if I’m NOT FREE!!
o Stephen shows us the proper way to take offense. I must focus on the one that is hurting me and pray for them and love them.
o 1 Kings 18:41-42 [a position of humility]
o The first thing Elijah did was pray and made himself as small as possible, so God could be even greater. You can’t be full of pride/hurt and so focused on yourself and pray to for others
o Elijah was a great, strong man, but he wasn’t afraid to be small in front of God and his friends.
o God doesn’t always send a lightning bolt when we start praying, but we must not lose faith and continue to believe (seven times his friend went out till there was a sign of rain)
**** There’s a spiritual drought right now.. We have a power greater than any other false religion… Use me Lord.. bring on the flood.
o I must surrender my hopes, pain, dreams and emotions to see God start to move.
o One hand in the sky means use me!!
o Do I want to struggle in this life or bring glory to the Lord?
———- I met a lady in church named Mes… pray for her. She is 24 and a teacher to small children in Narok.
4:20pm
Right now I’m sitting in a van at a grocery store. We are getting some food as a “gift” for a traditional Maasai village we are going to visit. We are going to visit the village to help us understand what the girls at Osotua come from. (We are going to go see Miriam’s stepfamily).
“I cannot curse the church and ask for money” – the “grandmother” of the tribe
——Pray for Rose (age 11) and Jacklyn (they are cousins)… Rose said to do good in school and that her father would go to church.
8:35pm
This morning at church was AMAZING. The Holy Spirit filled the place and our hearts. The service was long; it reminded me a lot of Mexico. The young people danced in front of the church and sang. All of the songs were either in Swahili or Maasai; obviously I didn’t understand anything, but it was beautiful to see once again that there’s so many people in different languages praising God. He is so glorious.
After worship, two men did announcements, which took forever! Rebekah told us everything at church there was drawn out and becomes a sermon. She was right because one man kept saying, “praise God” during it. HA.
Then the bishop spoke and said he wanted to welcome the visitors. He called Rebekah up and she greeted the pastor, his wife, the elders and the church. She spoke about how they came (the smallest seed) for the first time three years ago and how they love Kenya and now they brought their friends. (Of course this was being translated for the church. There were a ton of people there by the way… the little kids roamed around during the service and everyone was decked out!)
Side note: right now, there’s no power in the hotel, so I am writing with my flashlight… so epic and African.
Then Tammy went up and kissed the bishop on the cheek. The church LAUGHED—later we found out that it is not allowed! HA… they were probably thinking,
“What is this crazy white lady doing?”
Anyways, Tammy explained that our team was from all different places in the world and had different color skin—just like what Heaven will be like. She said God called us and we saved up money to come see them. She then had each of us introduce ourselves and give the church a greeting. When it was my turn, I started by saying,
“God is good!”
And to my surprise, the church responded,
“All the time!” …. In English!
I said “amen” with lots of excitement. I told them my name was Chelsie and I brought greetings from Florida and Alabama. I told them my family and friends had been praying for them for many months and I was so glad to finally see their faces. Of course I had to be silly and I told them that I feel at home because the Maasai are tall like me. Everyone laughed and I ended by saying I am so excited to serve with them and see what God has in store.
Then Tammy preached and WOW did the Spirit move… I was so convicted—I felt like this word was for me. It’s like the Lord showed me exactly what hinders me from complete surrender to Him. When she was down, she asked us to come up to pray for Kenya and the people. That was one of the strongest feelings of the Holy Spirit I’ve ever had on me. I was shaking as I prayed for the church and Kenya. I don’t even remember what I said, but it was as if power was coming out of my mouth; I wasn’t shaking because I was nervous, but because the Spirit was upon me.
I started to weep.
I really love Kenya.
After church, we ate lunch—I had some kind of beef curry and I know Desmond would be so proud. Then we picked up to girls from Osotua—Miriam and Alice, to go visit Miriam’s family. Her family lives somewhere on the way to the Maasai Mara; it’s definitely in the bush. Tammy said there were actually lions out on the land the people lived on. Can you believe that when these girls run away because of FGM they face the chance of getting killed by a lion? Many girls actually die trying to escape. Miriam said this fence on the land that we came up to was new, so we couldn’t drive in where she was use to walking in. Tammy said we should walk because of lions, so we got back in the vans and had to be careful of all the thorn bushes so the tires wouldn’t bust.
Finally we reached the little village, made of a few cow-dung houses. The wives actually build and up keep the houses. I met a girl named Lydia who actually spoke English. I was surprised that she spoke so well—- she told me she learned in school. Maybe because her village is not as far in the Maasai Mara is why she an go to school. Anyways, we got to look in her house; it was small and only one room, where there was a fire pit for cooking and where the WHOLE family sleeps. It was dark, cramped and smelled of smoke. It’s hard to believe that people can live in there.
I forgot to mention that when we first got there, we were not welcomed. The “leader” of the tribe, who everyone calls “grandmother” was not happy when we showed up. She got ugly with Beth for taking photos and even thought I couldn’t tell when she was saying, I knew she was mad; she was dressed in traditional Maasai clothing and jewelry. Praise God that Tim is on our team! The Lord knew that we needed someone who could speak Maasai. Tim explained that we were not tourists and that we came from the church. We had no money to bring, but we brought them some gifts of food. The grandmother received that well and said,
“We cannot curse the church and ask for money.”
She told us we were welcomed because we were from the church and not tourists. Often the Maasai feel like they are “animals” for show because people come to just take pictures of them, like they would an elephant or something. That is very heartbreaking to be honest… people aren’t for show—it was a good reminder that we didn’t come to Africa for a photo shoot.
Then I met a girl named Rose wearing a blue dress w/ beads (very Maasai looking) that her aunt made. She spoke English as well because of school. I asked her how old she was and she said 11—Tammy whispered on my ear that she’s at the age where soon they will perform FGM. I wanted to burst into tears as I looked at her… She was beautiful and just a baby! When I was 11, I was still afraid of boys and I thought it would be forever away till I was going to get married. My period hadn’t even started yet! Oh that broke my heart.
Then grandmother took us to her house; she explained that the whole village considers themselves to be her children. Our whole team, plus some children crammed into the dark, tiny hut. It smelled so smoky and I was trying hard to focus. Rebekah asked if there was anything we could pray about for her. Grandmother said:
“That God would give food. That God could give rain. That God would protect my family and my health.”
Tammy prayed and the Lord used her to preach His truth through her prayer. She basically said who God is, that He’s the only way and hope and asked for the Lord to be their ONLY God. Even as she prayed for each need, it was like a sermon was mixed in. I am so thankful that Tim could translate—that was such a perfect opportunity to share the gospel. We all held hands and I’m so surprised we all fit in there! I am so blessed we got to do that. I really pray that the Lord impacts that village.
After that, we had to leave. I gathered Lydia, Rose and Jacklyn and got down on my knees and told them they were so beautiful to Jesus. No matter what anyone says or thinks of them, they must always remember and not forget that. They told me yes and thank you. I asked them if they believed what I said and they said yes. I asked if I could take a picture with them so I could remember them and pray for them and they said yes.
As we were leaving, Rose followed me to the van. I asked her how I could pray for her and what she said RIPPED my heart out:
“For my father to go to church and for me to do good in school.”
I know her dad probably still believes in FGM and I know she knows it will happen to her. Also if you’re a female and not educated in Kenya, it’s just a hopeless situation. I am going to pray that she truly finds the Lord can get out of the situation she is in… God is big enough.
I wanted to cry in the van, but Tim told me to keep it together so Miriam and Alice, the Osotua girls, would not see. This was Miriam’s family and it would not be healthy for her. God is really getting on to me about my emotions and not losing control. I’ve had issues before and He’s teaching me why I must change—for His glory. Emotions aren’t bad, but if you let them rule you, it’s over—I’m only glorifying my flesh.
It’s no accident that the Lord is teaching me this now. When I think about the past months and how I snapped when it came to my emotions, I realized I never surrendered them to the Lord. I was only focusing on myself and It was hurting Desmond so much. Lord, please forgive me. I need your help! Thank you for showing me this and constantly teaching me to surrender. Lord, please keep Desmond and heal his heart for all of the times I was selfish. I praise you that in this it’s teaching me how to honor you and also how to protect Desmond. Thanks Lord for letting me see his continent… it’s really beautiful. As I see the hurt these people go through, it helps me understand what Desmond has been through.
Side note: As we were leaving, I realized that there were no men at the village. Supposedly they were “working.” That makes me sad… the women are like slaves and do everything.
Link to a pic of the three beautiful Maasi girls: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150434392694546&set=t.5033518&type=3&theater
